Toshiba's low-power SRAM chip aims to cut device drain

by Nancy Owano , Phys.org

(Phys.org)—Toshiba has announced a low-power embedded SRAM memory chip which may make future mobile devices last longer. Presenting its SRAM developments at the International Solid-State Circuit Conference in San Francisco in February, Toshiba said that its low-power design technique could help cut active and standby power consumption by 27 percent and 85 percent, respectively. Toshiba accomplished this by using a bit-line power calculator, or BLPC, to predict the power consumption of the bit lines and to monitor consumption of SRAM rest circuits, and a digitally-controllable retention circuit, or DCRC.

The DCRC is used to decrease standby power by updating the size of the buffer in the retention driver.

Toshiba noted its technology advancement is suited for smartphones and other mobile products. The technology reduces active and standby power in temperatures ranging from room temperature to high temperature through use of this BLPC and DCRC.

Tokyo-based Toshiba further noted that "longer battery life requires lower power consumption in both high performance and low performance modes (MP3 decoding, background processing, etc.). As low performance applications require only tens of MHz operation, SRAM temperature remains around RT, where active and leakage power consumptions are comparable. Given this, the key issue is to reduce active and standby power from HT to RT."

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

E-mail the story

Toshiba's low-power SRAM chip aims to cut device drain

Note

Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose.
The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form.

Your message

Newsletter sign up

Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details to third parties.

Your Privacy

This site uses cookies to assist with navigation, analyse your use of our services, and provide content from third parties.
By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Privacy Policy
and Terms of Use.